I have an idea. To encourage editors to edit, we could have three user templates - gold, silver, and bronze (or if you want more Tolkienish names [[Silima]], [[Mithril]], and [[Tilkal]]) - as templates for their user pages. For instance, a "bronze" template could be displayed on their userpage if they had 500 edits, silver if they had 1000 edits, and gold if they had over 2000 edits. Tell me what you think. --[[User:Narfil Palùrfalas|Narfil Palùrfalas]] 10:02, 20 June 2006 (EDT)

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:I love it! Some wikis have awards that can be given by anyone at random if they consider the user did something award worthy. This makes it difficult as people have different ideas for when someone accomplished something award-worthy. The edit requirement allows for at least some standard to be used. My only concern is that we might be focusing too much on edits when one person rewriting an entire article is much more helpful than simply a minor edit yet they count for the same. But I think in general the edit requirement is probably our best bet. We'll have to play around with some images, I definitely think the Tolkienish names you suggested are the way to go. We can also create other awards too like "Most active" or "Most knowledgeable" etc. because if we use the 500, 1,000, 2,000 standard people are going to have all the awards pretty fast. I kind of like 1000, 10000, 100000 :) Hm, we also need to make a good standard template that the award image is inside of, something that says "Award" at the bottom to identify the image and so if people have multiple awards all the images have the same theme. Great idea Narfil. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 13:54, 20 June 2006 (EDT)

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Only a relatively small amount of editors will ever reach 1000, and only the more active editors will reach 500. 2000 is certainly something to be proud of (on the other hand, Ebakunin reached it pretty quickly!). I see what you mean about the size of edits, but I don't see a way around it though. I really don't think anyone, excepting yourself, will ever reach 100,000 (unless they work for years). 10,000 may warrant a sort of "super-award", because only a few will reach it. Ideas for other awards are as follows:

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*Most active

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*Most knowledgeable

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*Best writing (needs a better title)

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*Hardest working (also needs a better title)

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But with those we could give "character" awards. For instance, "most knowledgeable" would be, say, the "[[Gandalf]]" award (other suggestions include [[Bilbo]] or [[Rúmil]]). "Most active" would be [[Aragorn]] (or [[Fëanor]]). "Best writing" might be [[Bilbo]]. "Hardest working" could be. . . I would have to think about that one. On the other hand, we might have titles. "Most knowledgeable" would be ''Loremaster award'', or etc. Just some ideas. Anyone can add to the list above. --[[User:Narfil Palùrfalas|Narfil Palùrfalas]] 14:31, 20 June 2006 (EDT)

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:I uploaded the following image for the "Silima" award:

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[[Image:Silima.jpg|center|150px]]

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:I am looking for a good [[Mithril]] image (see Talk:John Howe - Mithril), but I can probably create good [[Tilkal]] in Bryce. --[[User:Narfil Palùrfalas|Narfil Palùrfalas]] 21:29, 24 June 2006 (EDT)

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::Not to rush you or anything, Hyarion, but I was wondering if you had started the templates (I sure wish I knew how to do that. . .). Anyway, I'll try and get the Tilkal image done. Should the image be of a chain or just a close up of the texture? I favor the former. --[[User:Narfil Palùrfalas|Narfil Palùrfalas]] 14:51, 8 July 2006 (EDT)

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:::I've created the following image of [[Tilkal]] in Bryce (Notice that in varying lights it can be red or green; I prefer red, but I shall upload the green just so you can decide which one you prefer):

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[[Image:Tilkal-red.jpg|center|150px]]

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:::It's pretty big, but that was just in case we might need it for something else. --[[User:Narfil Palùrfalas|Narfil Palùrfalas]] 16:17, 9 July 2006 (EDT)

Well, I've had an idea for the voting for the "other" awards, such as ''most knowledgeable'', etc. We could have it so that any nominations for the award would be posted on this thread. Then the voting would go on for, say, a two-week period of time. Anyone can vote, but at the end of that period the voting is closed and the award is given or denyed. It must be at least a 2/3 majority. I favor for voting the "Barrow-downs" approach: '''++ Example''' or '''-- Example'''. Just an idea. This would also work for contests, though the period of time would be longer. --[[User:Narfil Palùrfalas|Narfil Palùrfalas]] 09:51, 10 July 2006 (EDT)

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:Well, on Wookiepedia, they have "Wookiepedian of the month", could we think of a similar title for us? -[[User:Lord Aragorn1414|Lord Aragorn1414]] 15:14, 18 July 2006 (EDT)

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Alright, I've written out a set of rules as a Word document and copied them here. Tell me what you think.

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Gatekeeper Awards

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==Awards==

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''Following shall be listed awards and their qualifications.''

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'''Highest Award''': ''The highest award given to a Gatekeeper, only to the very best''

: For all awards but the Highest and Primary Awards voting shall be held for a month in a picked voting thread, which it is recommended that all users add to their watchlist. It is impossible that voters remain anonymous if someone wishes to find out, but they do not need to sign their names. They need only place (in bold) a '''++Yes''' or '''--No''' under the columns designated. Highest and Primary Awards shall have a voting span of one month; all others two weeks. At the end of voting the nominator or a picked administrator shall count up the votes, and depending on the figures given above the award may or may not be awarded to the person in question.

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'''Basic Rules:'''

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: Any Gatekeeper can nominate another Gatekeeper, but if they nominate someone who does not qualify to the technical qualifications the voting shall be stopped by an Administrator or another.

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: Anyone who votes more than once may be at an administrator’s discretion banned for a maximum period of up to two months. Anyone who sees such cheating should report it immediately by placing it on an administrator’s talk page, not in the main voting thread. Any votes for himself/herself shall be deleted and ignored thereafter. If the voting for himself/herself occurs frequently, they may be punished at a picked administrator’s discretion.

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'''*''' The creation of an article is, at the voter's discretion, either a completely new prominent article, or the drastic rise from a small article into an organized, complete, and detailed one.

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----

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Fantastic job Narfil! Here are some suggestions that popped into my head:

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* ''Keeper of the Seventh Gate'' is good, I also like the sound of ''Guard of the Citadel''.

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* Personally I like the idea of requiring a higher percentage of votes to gain the rank, for ''Keeper of the Seventh Gate'' for example I might say 90% or even 100%. Maybe we can allow administrators to void one vote per admin or something similar. In my opinion if someone has a valid reason for not wanting to give someone the title it only makes sense to fix the problem before granting the title.

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* Maybe we can think of a better title for ''Primary Awards'', although I can't at the moment.

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* We also might consider spreading out the edit gap for the ''Primary Awards, like 1,000 and 5,000 or something. Only 500 edits can be obtained fairly easily. Since the awards are so high on the ladder I almost want to raise the edits to 5,000 and 10,000 or something.

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* ''and the creation of at least five prominent articles'' - I would consider changing this to something along the lines of ''and the drastically improving'' or something, as at some time all of the major articles will already be created.

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* I think the idea for a month voting for an admin/primary/highest and two weeks for the rest is a good estimate for how long it would take.

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* There are numerous ways we can vote, another way would be to have subheadings for "Support" and "Object", the user puts down their username under the heading of their choice and a reason if they want to, a reason would be required for Objections.

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* I think we'll have to create a template for placing awards in userpages, like a trophy box. I also like the idea of having all the awards look a certain style and list the name of the award at the bottom of the image. Some 'template' for the image so it doesn't just look like a random picture.

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You've got some great ideas though! I'll wait a few more days for everyone to respond and we'll move the information to a permanent page, I think voting should be held off until we get a few more regulars however. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 22:58, 25 July 2006 (EDT)

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:You just pointed out exactly what I forgot! The creation of an article is, at the voter's discretion, either a completely new prominent article, or the drastic rise from a small article into an organized, complete, and detailed one. The person would be "creating" the article, even if it were already in existance. There are only so many Tolkien subjects, you know, so we might have several other options. . .

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:I had been thinking about raising the edit number. It might be a better idea to raise it up to 2000, 5000, and 10,000; or, if we want it simpler (considering that more is required than just a number of edits), 1000, 2500, and 5000. By Seventh Gate, I meant, by the way, the [[Great Gate of Gondolin]]; the [[Gate of Steel]].

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:I'll think about what you said about raising the percentage on the more important awards. It does sound good to me. Thanks for your feedback. --[[User:Narfil Palùrfalas|Narfil Palùrfalas]] 08:42, 26 July 2006 (EDT)

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:Now, if you were to be nominated for a reward, would you be told on your talk page, or what? -[[User:Lord Aragorn1414|Lord Aragorn1414]] 14:21, 26 July 2006 (EDT)

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::Great question Aragorn. I think its a good idea to notify the person on the talk page, we can setup a "You have been nominated" template. However I think the person shouldn't be notified right a way because say for example they were nominated for ''Keeper of the Seventh Gate'' when they only had 56 edits and had been registered for 2 weeks, there is no point, so maybe after 24 hours we can add the template, or "at the users discretion" for adding it. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 14:33, 26 July 2006 (EDT)

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:::Good idea. I like it. Now, if only we could get some graphics for the awards... -[[User:Lord Aragorn1414|Lord Aragorn1414]] 14:53, 26 July 2006 (EDT)

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::::I'll be happy to do so. What I can do for most of the awards is find images, crop them, and upload them. We already have images for the Silima and Tilkal awards (unless someone objects to them; and I would still like to know Red or Green), and we should be able to find others for the other awards. For instance, I don't know of any Tolkien artist that did [[Aulë]] except [[Ted Nasmith]]. If we cropped the image so that it got his head and maybe a bit of the hammer. . . etc. --[[User:Narfil Palùrfalas|Narfil Palùrfalas]] 15:18, 26 July 2006 (EDT)

::::::I agree, green is easier to see. Is there anyway we can add some more color to the outline of the ring to give it more of a solid state? I also still like the idea of including all of the awards in a "template" which has maybe some kind of border, a specific size, and the name of the award at the bottom of the image. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 11:39, 27 July 2006 (EDT)

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:::::::Yeah, that IS a good idea. Now, about that ring, maybe we could blend the red and green, so that it looks, in short, like what the Silmarillion said. Varying in different light. -[[User:Lord Aragorn1414|Lord Aragorn1414]] 12:05, 27 July 2006 (EDT)

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::::::::I see what you mean about it being both red and green. Unfortunately, it mostly depends on the lighting I gave it. I could make Tilkal shine pretty much any color because of the lighting (and a little tweaking of the colors). I might be able to do something in Photoshop, though. --[[User:Narfil Palùrfalas|Narfil Palùrfalas]] 13:17, 27 July 2006 (EDT)

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:::::::::Okay then. Let's give it a shot and see what we can do, shall we? -[[User:Lord Aragorn1414|Lord Aragorn1414]] 11:51, 28 July 2006 (EDT)

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::::::::::I'm sorry, but it won't work. We'll have to go with one or the other, or come up with something else. --[[User:Narfil Palùrfalas|Narfil Palùrfalas]] 16:08, 28 July 2006 (EDT)

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:::::::::::Alright then, green is my vote. Oh, one last question. When do these awards go into effect, or play, or whatever you want to call it? -[[User:Lord Aragorn1414|Lord Aragorn1414]] 14:19, 3 August 2006 (EDT)

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::::::::::::Personally I think we should wait until we have a few more active contributors, at least 10 or so before having any kind of voting. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 14:23, 3 August 2006 (EDT)

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:::::::::::::We don't have that many yet? Wow, we need to get our name out there, don't we? So, when should the awards go into effect?-[[User:Lord Aragorn1414|Lord Aragorn1414]] 12:23, 4 August 2006 (EDT)

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::::::::::::::However long it takes to get some more contributors :) a month or two I would guess. But we also need to create images for all these awards. I know there's a lot of people out there who would contribute, it's just a matter of making them aware of the site, maybe we can talk to some Wookieepedians, a lot of SW fans are Tolkien fans too. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 13:14, 4 August 2006 (EDT)

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I have the award picture for Keeper of the Seventh Gate (I'm building it myself). But I need a little help. I need the translation of "''Keeper of the Seventh Gate''" into [[Quenya]]. As soon as I have that I'll upload an image of the project for your critizism. --[[User:Narfil Palùrfalas|Narfil Palùrfalas]] 16:47, 4 August 2006 (EDT)

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Here's the [[Telchar]] award image. It doesn't look that great, but took a lot of work. Originally I had two pictures: that of a sword and that of a blacksmith hammering a small hook on an anvil. I wiped out the hook, then put the copy-and-paste sword-blade on top. Then, using a paintbrush, I tried to give it a "hot" look. If anyone has any better images, they would be welcome. --[[User:Narfil Palùrfalas|Narfil Palùrfalas]] 21:06, 4 August 2006 (EDT)

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[[Image:Telchar Award Image.jpg|center|150px]]

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:Well, Narfil, I have a picture of a sword that looks a little more Tolkien-y. If you want to do some more work, I'll upload the pic and you can photoshop the image to fit. If not, then that's fine.-[[User:Lord Aragorn1414|Lord Aragorn1414]] 16:45, 6 August 2006 (EDT)

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::Well, the point is sort of to have a hot sword or like implement upon an anvil. The sword itself really doesn't have to be very interesting, so long as it isn't clearly un-Tolkienish. If you could find a picture better than mine, or a painting of Telchar, that might be better, though. . .--[[User:Narfil Palùrfalas|Narfil Palùrfalas]] 20:29, 6 August 2006 (EDT)

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:::[[Image:Telchar thumb-1-.jpg]] This is the best I could find, but it's a thumb, so I don't know if it will work. -[[User:Lord Aragorn1414|Lord Aragorn1414]] 22:43, 6 August 2006 (EDT)

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At last, after much time and work I have completed and uploaded the first stage of the Keeper of the Seventh Gate award.

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[[Image:Keeper of the Seventh Gate Award Image.jpg]]

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It's based on what I always thought the Tolkien Gateway logo should look like. See the image page itself for my own comments. --[[User:Narfil Palùrfalas|Narfil Palùrfalas]] 15:43, 12 August 2006 (EDT)

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:Well, the number of active Gatekeepers is rising slower, perhaps, than expected. Still, in the past two months or so we have received a couple more dedicated editors (namely Tar-Telperien and Dwarf Lord; it also looks like Ted C and Legolas will become such). How much longer do you think we should wait before polishing the rules and putting them into effect? At the moment I believe we have about seven or eight active Gatekeepers. --[[User:Narfil Palùrfalas|Narfil Palùrfalas]] 21:57, 13 November 2006 (EST)